The suspect in the knife attack at the Gare de Lyon in Paris on Saturday was referred this Monday evening for attempted murder, according to our information.
A qualification which could be reclassified as assassination if the most seriously affected victim were to die.
Placed in police custody after the events, he was taken out in the evening due to his psychiatric condition, deemed “incompatible with the measure of restraint”.
His custody resumed on Sunday and has continued since, the psychiatric state of the individual now being compatible with this regime.
As for his motivations, still according to our information, the terrorist connotation is not retained by the prosecution.
Three people were injured in this knife attack in the heart of Paris, including one seriously after receiving a stab in the abdomen and two hammer blows to the head, according to a police source.
His vital prognosis was “still in jeopardy” early Monday afternoon, according to the public prosecutor.
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Paris: a man injures three people with a knife at Lyon station
An investigation into attempted assassination was opened and entrusted to the 2nd district of the Parisian judicial police, according to the Paris prosecutor's office.
The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office specified for its part that it was under observation.
Unknown to French police services
The alleged assailant, aged 32, has psychiatric disorders.
A treatment of antipsychotics and antiepileptics was found on him, as well as a ticket for an appointment at a psychiatric hospital in Turin, according to our information.
He had been monitored for almost seven years and had already been interned.
He was until then unknown to both French and Italian police services, according to a police source.
Also read “He didn’t want to let go of the knife”: the security agent who neutralized the attacker at Lyon station testifies
The suspect is of Malian nationality with an Italian residence permit issued in 2019. According to our information, the man spontaneously told the police during his arrest that he wanted to “kill people”, and made no mention of religion.
He explained to investigators that he arrived in France on February 1 from Italy, by train, specifically to “commit his act”.
The man had published numerous disturbing videos on the social network TikTok in recent months, with a threatening tone and legitimizing violence, against a backdrop of geopolitics.
Videos which have been authenticated, according to our information.
A security source mentions to Le Parisien “a profile of pan-Africanism”.